What role does money play in "A Christmas Memory"? In what ways does the story suggest the economic hardship of the Great Depression, and how do the characters compensate for their lack of money?

Write a brief story about a memory of your own. Now rewrite it from the viewpoint of someone who is not a central character in the story. How has your story changed? How would "A Christmas Memory" have been different if it had been told from the perspective of one of the other relatives in the household? How might the "rich mill owner's lazy wife" have recounted the story of trying to buy the Christmas tree to her husband that night over dinner?

Does the Southern setting of "A Christmas Memory " enhance or detract from the nostalgic quality of the story? What images come to mind when you think of the South...